National budget 8.26.09

Wednesday

Aug 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMAug 26, 2009 at 6:31 AM

GateHouse News Service National Budget
For 8/26/09 editions

Here are the top national stories coming today from GateHouse News Service. Stories are available at http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/. Please submit stories below no later than 6 pm local time, unless you have breaking news that is changing significantly.

TED KENNEDY COVERAGE: We have photo galleries, columns, national news stories, local news stories and more in our collection of content related to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. We will update the file as new content comes in, so check back often.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/homepage/x1373203167/Sen-Edward-Kennedy-coverage

NFL PREVIEW TAB: Check out our 2009 NFL preview, with copy from the pros at Pro Football Weekly.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/sports/pro/football/fantasy_football/x772305649/2009-NFL-Preview-Magazine

FAMILY MAGAZINE: Our September edition is available on the news service.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/family/x1528801441/Family-magazine-Garden-fresh

CASEY LAUGHMAN: The power of public records
http://ghnewsroom.com/article/power-public-records

GOOD IDEA: A page featuring your community bloggers
http://ghnewsroom.com/article/good-idea-page-featuring-your-local-bloggers

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Freddy the turkey mourned in Easton
http://ghnewsroom.com/article/video-week-freddy-turkey-mourned-easton

Lifestyles

MORNING MINUTES: We've expanded what we're offering in Morning Minutes to provide your paper with more options and to give your readers a couple more interesting tidbits. It now includes Word of the Day, Web Site of the Day, Number to Know, This Day in History, Today’s Featured Birthday and Daily Quote.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/morning_minutes

HOME HELP: Weekly home and garden rail, with items on fall decorating, a how-to on using a plunger, tips on building a bat house for your backyard and more.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1886174993/Home-Help-Let-fall-s-colors-inspire-décor

FAMILY TIME: Weekly family rail, with tips on mini golf, a review of “Shorts” and more.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/family/x772312243/Family-Time-Mini-golf-offers-family-fun-for-all-ages

LOST IN SUBURBIA: “That is a really cute dog!” I said to a woman as she got out of her car with an armful of fluff. She put the fluff down on the ground, and it turned into a dog and did a little happy dance. “What kind is he?” I asked. “He’s a Schnoodle.” A flurry of jokes came to mind, and I had to consciously stifle them to make sure I didn’t blurt them out loud.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/family/x772306216/Lost-in-Suburbia-Just-another-dog-schnarticle

STUTTERERS: Stutterers struggle to fight feelings of helplessness - GALESBURG – Shaina Stephens sometimes struggles to speak about her stuttering condition. It’s not because of the severe condition the 21-year-old Galesburg native has had since she was 4 years old. It’s because sometimes even children make her feel dumb. Other times, she feels helpless. Stephens took a hit to the head while running through her house as a youngster. Although experts have not officially connected the events, she said she developed a stuttering problem just two weeks later. She has been living a nightmare ever since.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1886181205/Waiting-for-words

BEER NUT: Drinking up the history of Canada - For an enjoyable way to learn about French Canada, drink some of Unibroue's wonderful Belgian-style ales. All of the labels and names are inspired by Canadian historical figures and folklore.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/food/beverages/x1528814227/The-Beer-Nut-Drinking-up-the-history-of-Canada
- Art: Photo, column mug

Entertainment

SUDOKU: Puzzles for September (435-462) are available for download. Previous puzzles are linked to in this file, or visit our Puzzles category.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/puzzles/x1886174743/Sudoku-puzzles-435-462-September-puzzles

BOOK REVIEW: The Passionate Olive: 101 Things to do with Olive Oil - For many of us who love food and cooking, curling up with a new cookbook is a cherished time to be savored. Between ramped-up and revived recipes, inspiring ingredient combinations and cutting-edge culinary techniques, most cookbooks are all-you-can-read buffets of information – letting readers pick and choose exactly what they wish to devour. “The Passionate Olive” by Carol Firenze not only offers some great recipes, it also features ways to “improve your life, love and health.” In her book, Firenze fulfills her promise to share “101 Things to Do with Olive Oil.” But it’s evident her love and appreciation of olive oil goes beyond a simple how-to guide. By Lori Kilchermann of the Freeport Journal-Standard.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/how_to/x1886184714/Book-review-The-Passionate-Olive-101-Things-to-do-with-Olive-Oil

FLICKS: Laughable horror flicks don’t merit trip to theater - Usually I do some shred of research for this column. This week, why bother with two dried out husks posing as horror/suspense blockbusters and a gloriously ironic money grab wrapped in a nostalgic Woodstock burial shroud? By John Meo.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/entertainment/x1373204235/Flicks-Laughable-horror-flicks-don-t-merit-trip-to-theater
- Art: Column mug

GRANLUND CARTOON: On teacher cuts and students learning about subtraction.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/cartoons/x1528808457/Granlund-cartoon-On-teacher-cuts-and-students-learning-subtraction

AMANDA JACOBS: With Cash for Clunkers over, government needs some new catchy ideas - The Cash for Clunkers program, which offered up to $4,500 for consumers to trade in their old cars for more fuel-efficient models, ended Monday evening. Now that Cash for Clunkers is over, however, the Obama administration can only toot its CARS horn for so much longer before it must face the rest of the country’s problems without falling back onto a successful, alliteratively named program that proves the government can do something right.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/midwest/illinois/x1886184439/Amanda-Jacobs-With-Cash-for-Clunkers-over-government-needs-some-new-catchy-names

PETER CHIANCA: Back-to-school questions? Ask Mr. Education! - Each year around this time, we like to turn over this space to Mr. Education to answer your back-to-school questions.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/education/x772318396/Peter-Chianca-Back-to-school-questions-Ask-Mr-Education
- Art: Cartoon, column mug

FRANK MULLIGAN: Playing chicken in the meat aisle - Have you noticed people at the supermarket looking a little longer and a little more intently at the various vittles that line the aisles? I Have.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/columnists/x1886184282/Frank-Mulligan-Playing-chicken-in-the-meat-aisle
- Art: Colunm mug

EDITORIAL: Leadership, not fear, needed in health debate - Medicare should be abolished. Ditto for Medicaid. Veterans health benefits, zap those, too. It has become clear in the last few months that philosophically, Americans are opposed to "socialized medicine." Well, all of the above are partly or wholly socialized – government paid for or provided – programs. If "public option" health insurance is so egregious, then consistency demands that we eliminate all of it. An editorial from the Peoria Journal Star.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/editorials/x1528814565/Editorial-Leadership-not-fear-needed-in-health-debate

EDITORIAL: A night of partying not worth a lifetime of erasing a mistake - For too many college and high school students, back-to-school means back to partying hearty. They drink alcohol with no thought to the common consequences: DUIs, crashes, vandalism, hurting others or hurting themselves in drunken stunts. But the Green Bay, Wis., area got a reminder of another risk not often talked about: sexual assault. An editorial from the Rockford Register Star.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/editorials/x1528814574/Editorial-A-night-of-partying-not-worth-a-lifetime-of-erasing-a-mistake

TED KENNEDY COVERAGE: We have photo galleries, columns, national news stories, local news stories and more in our collection of content related to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. We will update the file as new content comes in, so check back often.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/homepage/x1373203167/Sen-Edward-Kennedy-coverage

HEROIN OVERDOSE: Brockton funeral director embalms son after fatal heroin overdose - The funeral director organized the tools, wiped his tears and braced himself as he approached the table. Over 35 years, George Fiske had prepared hundreds of bodies, but today was different. Today it was his son. Lance Patrick Fiske, 22, died from a heroin overdose Sunday night. By Maria Papadopoulos.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/massachusetts/x1373201135/Brockton-funeral-director-embalms-son-after-fatal-heroin-overdose
- Art: 9 photos

GIMME AN ‘OW:’ Cheerleaders trying to reduce injury risk -SPRINGFIELD – There’s no way to put it delicately: Cheerleading can be hazardous. Cheerleading and cheerleading safety have been getting a lot of media attention recently because of the release of the 26th annual study “Catastrophic Sports Injury Research: Fall 1982-Spring 2008” from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study found that a major factor in the increase of catastrophic injuries to female athletes was due to cheerleading, which now involves gymnastic-type stunts. The number of emergency-room visits made each year due to cheerleading injuries more than quintupled from 1980 to 1997. By Tamara Browning of the State Journal-Register. To localize: Check with local schools to see if they’ve have an increase in cheerleading injuries.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1886181370/Gimme-an-ow-Cheerleaders-trying-to-reduce-injury-risk

NASTY SAND: Study: Playing in the sand could make you sick - University of North Carolina researchers recently released a study that found that many people – especially children – are more likely to get gastrointestinal illnesses after playing in the sand, than those who do not. By Jessica Bartlett, Patriot Ledger.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/x1886175714/Study-Playing-in-the-sand-could-make-you-sick
- LOCALIZE IT: There is one local reference - swap that out for a comment from a beachgoer in your area.

Business / Ag

DAVE RAMSEY: Weekly financial Q&A, with items on asking for a raise at work and emergency funds.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x1886180969/Dave-Ramsey-How-to-ask-for-a-raise

BIZ BITS: Weekly business rail, with a tip about cybercrime, BBB warning about a lottery scam and more.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x2145963273/Biz-Bits-Cybercrime-victim-3-telltale-signs-and-what-to-do

MAKING CENTS: Investing with emotion causes strife - While in money market funds, collecting a paltry rate of interest, you are in fact on the sidelines because you are watching the action on Wall Street wondering if you made the right move. Those of you who fled to the money markets at any time before the bear market started its dramatic turnaround felt like a genius. Now, after an unprecedented and rapid rebound in equity prices and money market rates about as close to 0 percent as possible, you feel like the class dunce. By John P. Napolitano.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x769902933/Making-Cents-Investing-with-emotion-causes-strife
- Art: Column mug

FINE PRINT: First-time home buyers are running out of time to get tax credit - Potential first-time home buyers who are wondering whether they should get into the market to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit shouldn’t wait much longer. By Jon Chesto.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x1373197880/Fine-Print-First-time-home-buyers-are-running-out-of-time-to-get-tax-credit

CHECKOUT LANE: Tips when shopping for antiques - When buying antiques, you should expect to make mistakes, furniture dealers say. That’s why it’s important to get a piece you love, rather than one you think will accrue in value. By Brent Lang.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x772313998/Checkout-Lane-Tips-when-shopping-for-antiques
- Art: 2 photos

SCHOOL SPENDING: Parents backing off on back-to-school spending - Those who plan on heading to the mall for some back-to-school shopping this week may have a little more elbow room while perusing the racks of clothes and shelves of school supplies. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average family with students in grades kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a decline of 7.7 percent from $594.24 in 2008.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/massachusetts/news/x1886183398/Parents-backing-off-on-back-to-school-spending
- Art: 3 photos
- LOCALIZE IT: Talk to stores, parents in your area to see if the trend holds true